Contents

How to Access

Select Content → Featured Articles from the drop-down menu in the back-end of your Joomla! installation. You can also click on the "Featured Articles" tab from within the Content Manager.

Description

The Featured Articles is the place where you control which Articles are displayed on the Front Page and in what order they are displayed. The Front Page is often the Home page of a web site, but it can be any page in the site. The Front Page is created using a Menu Item with the Front Page layout.

Screenshot

Column Headers

Click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value.

Checkbox. Check this box to select one or more items. To select all items, check the box in the column heading. After one or more boxes are checked, click a toolbar button to take an action on the selected item or items. Many toolbar actions, such as Publish and Unpublish, can work with multiple items. Others, such as Edit, only work on one item at a time. If multiple items are checked and you press Edit, the first item will be opened for editing.

Title. The name of the item. For a Menu Item, the Title will display in the Menu. For an Article, Section, or Category, the Title may optionally be displayed on the web page. This entry is required. You can open the item for editing by clicking on the Title.

Category. The Category this item belongs to. Clicking on the Category title opens the Category for editing. See Category Manager - Edit.

Published. The Article's Published status. The possible values are shown under the main window, as shown below:

You can toggle the Published state on and off by clicking on the icon in this column. A status of Pending means that an Article's Start Publishing Date is in the future. You can hover on the icon to see an Article's Start and Stop Publishing dates.

Ordering. The order in which to display the Articles on the Front Page. If the list is sorted by this column, you can change the order by clicking the arrows or by entering the sequential order and clicking 'Save Order'. Note that the display order on the Front Page is set in the Parameters - Advanced section for the Front Page Blog Menu Item. To sort Front Page Articles using this Order value, set the Category Order to "No. Order by Primary Order Only" and set the Primary Order to "Default". If these Parameters are set to other values (for example, "Oldest First" or "Title (Alphabetical)"), then the Articles will be sorted that way and this column will be ignored.

ID. The unique ID number automatically assigned to this item by Joomla!. This number cannot be changed.

Toolbar

At the top right you will see the toolbar (depending on the template in use):

The functions are:

New. Click on this button to create a new item. You will enter the New page for this item.

Edit. Select one item and click on this button to open it in edit mode. If you have more than one item selected (where applicable), the first item will be opened. You can also open an item for editing by clicking on its Title or Name.

Publish. To publish one or more items, select them and click on this button.

Unpublish. To unpublish one or more items, select them and click on this button.

Archive. To change one or more Articles to Archived status, select them and press this button. Archived Articles are retained on the site and are available for viewing on Menu Items with a Type of Archive Layout. They can not be published to other pages while set to Archived status. Note that Articles assigned to the "Uncategorized" Section will not show on the Archived Article List layout.

Remove: To remove one or more items, select them and click on this button.

Remove. To remove one or more Articles from the Front Page, click on the checkbox for each Article and press the Remove button. The removed Articles may still be available on other pages. This only removes them from the Front Page.

Trash. Select one or more Articles and click on this button to move them to the Trash Manager. Note that Articles can be restored from the Trash Manager as long as they are not permanently deleted. See Trash Manager for more information.

List Filters

You can filter the list of items either by entering in part of the title or the ID number. You can also select a combination of Section, Category, Author, and Published State.

Filter. In the upper left corner just above the column headings is a Filter field and two buttons, as shown below:

If you have a large number of items on the list, you can use this filter to find the desired item(s) quickly. Enter either part of the title and press 'Go' to display the matching items. You can enter in whole words or part of a word. For example, "ooml" will match all titles with the word "Joomla!" in them. You can also search for a specific item id by entering "id:" followed by the id number. For example, "id:123" will find the item with an id of '123'.

Filter by Section, Category, Author, Published State

In the area in the upper right, above the column headings, there are 4 drop-down list boxes as shown below:

The selections may be combined. Only items matching all selections will display in the list.

Filter by Published Status. Lets you show only items with the selected published status.

- Select Status -: Shows items that are Published and Unpublished. Does not show items that are Trashed or Archived.

Published: Shows only items that are Published.

Unpublished: Shows only items that are Unpublished.

Archived: Shows only items that are Archived.

Trashed: Shows only items that are Trashed. Important Note: To permanently delete items:

Change the status of the items to Trashed.

Change the Status filter to Trashed. At this point the trashed items will show and an icon called "Empty trash" will show in the toolbar.

Select the desired trashed items and click on "Empty Trash" in the toolbar. The items will be permanently deleted.

Select Language. Use the drop-down list box to select the desired Language. Only items in this Language will display.

Quick Tips

Only the Articles that have already been added to the Front Page will display on this screen. Articles can be added to the Front Page in the Article Manager or when an Article is added or edited in Article Manager - New/Edit.